Ulysses S. Grant, born
Hiram Ulysses Grant (April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) was the Commanding
General of the United States Army at the end of the American Civil War and
later the 18th President of the United States from March 04, 1869 to March
04, 1877. As Commanding General, Grant worked closely with President Abraham
Lincoln to lead the Union Army to victory over the Confederacy in the Civil
War. Supported by Congress, Grant implemented Reconstruction, often at odds
with President Andrew Johnson. Twice elected president, Grant led the
Republicans in their effort to remove the vestiges of Confederate
nationalism and slavery, protect African-American citizenship, and support
economic prosperity. Although his presidency has often been criticized for
multiple administration scandals and for his failure to alleviate the
economic depression following the Panic of 1873, he is regarded as a
President who performed relatively well in the context of his time and
pursued justice for all.

The Battle of Shiloh, also
known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the Western
Theater of the American Civil War, fought April 6–7, 1862, in southwestern
Tennessee. A Union force known as the Army of the Tennessee under Major
General Ulysses S. Grant had moved via the Tennessee River deep into
Tennessee and was encamped principally at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee on
the west bank of that river, where the Confederate Army of Mississippi,
under General Albert Sidney Johnston and second-in-command P. G. T.
Beauregard, launched a surprise attack on Grant's army from its base in
Corinth, Mississippi. Johnston was mortally wounded during the fighting;
Beauregard, who thus succeeded to command of the army, decided against
pressing the attack late in the evening. Overnight Grant was reinforced by
one of his own divisions stationed further north and was joined by three
divisions from another Union army under Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell. This
allowed them to launch an unexpected counterattack the next morning which
completely reversed the Confederate gains of the previous day.

On April 14, five days
after Grant's victory at Appomattox, he attended a cabinet meeting in
Washington. Lincoln invited him and his wife to Ford's Theater, but they
declined as they had plans to travel to Philadelphia. In a conspiracy that
targeted several government leaders, Lincoln was fatally shot by John Wilkes
Booth at the theater, and died the next morning. Many, including Grant
himself, thought that he had been a target in the plot. Stanton notified him
of the President's death and summoned him back to Washington. Attending
Lincoln's funeral on April 19, Grant stood alone and wept openly; he later
said Lincoln was "the greatest man I have ever known." Regarding the new
President, Andrew Johnson, Grant told Julia that he dreaded the change in
administrations; he judged Johnson's attitude toward white southerners as
one that would "make them unwilling citizens", and initially thought that
with President Johnson, "Reconstruction has been set back no telling how
far."

Grant was popular among
the Radical Republicans following his abandonment of Johnson over the
Secretary of War dispute. The Republicans chose Grant as their presidential
candidate on the first ballot at the 1868 Republican National Convention in
Chicago. Grant received all 650 votes from delegates, with no other
candidate being nominated, and upon the announcement was welcomed with a
"frenzied enthusiasm". In his letter of acceptance, Grant concluded with
"Let us have peace", which became his campaign slogan. For vice president,
the delegates nominated House Speaker Schuyler Colfax Jr.
The United States presidential election of 1868 was the 21st quadrennial
presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 1868. It was the first
presidential election to take place after the American Civil War, during the
period referred to as Reconstruction. As three of the former Confederate
states (Texas, Mississippi, and Virginia) were not yet restored to the
Union, their electors could not vote in the election. The incumbent
President, Andrew Johnson, who succeeded to the presidency in 1865 following
the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, was unpopular and failed to
receive the Democratic presidential nomination. By 1868, Johnson had
alienated many of his constituents and had been impeached by Congress.
Although Johnson kept his office, his presidency was crippled. After
numerous ballots, the Democrats nominated former New York Governor Horatio
Seymour to take on the Republican candidate, Civil War general Ulysses S.
Grant. Grant was one of the most popular men in the North due to his efforts
in concluding the Civil War successfully for the Union. Although Seymour was
buried in the electoral college, he gave Grant a good race for the popular
vote.

The United States
presidential election of 1872 was the 22nd quadrennial presidential
election, held on Tuesday, November 5, 1872. The incumbent President Ulysses
S. Grant was easily elected to a second term in office, with Senator Henry
Wilson of Massachusetts as his running mate. Grant's decisive re-election
was achieved in the face of a split within the Republican Party that
resulted in a third party of Liberal Republicans nominating Horace Greeley
to oppose Grant. This action caused the Democratic Party to cancel its
convention, support Greeley as well, and not nominate a candidate of its
own. On November 29, 1872, after the popular vote was counted, but before
the Electoral College cast its votes, Greeley died. As a result, electors
previously committed to Greeley voted for four different candidates for
president and eight different candidates for vice-president. Greeley himself
received three posthumous electoral votes, but these votes were disallowed
by Congress. The election of 1872 is the only United States presidential
election in which a major party nominee died during the electoral process.
It was the last instance until the 2016 presidential election in which more
than one presidential elector voted for a candidate to whom they were not
pledged. Greeley was the new Liberal Republican Party's candidate in the
1872 U.S. presidential election. He lost in a landslide, despite having the
additional support of the Democratic Party. He was devastated by the death
of his wife, who died five days before the election, and died himself three
weeks later, before the electoral college had met.

After a year-long struggle
with cancer, surrounded by his family, Grant died at 8 o'clock in the
morning in the Mount McGregor cottage on July 23, 1885, at the age of 63.
Sheridan, then Commanding General of the Army, ordered a day-long tribute to
Grant on all military posts, and President Grover Cleveland ordered a
thirty-day nationwide period of mourning. After private services, the honor
guard placed Grant's body on a special funeral train, which traveled to West
Point and New York City. A quarter of a million people viewed it in the two
days before the funeral. Tens of thousands of men, many of them veterans
from the Grand Army of the Republic marched with Grant's casket drawn by two
dozen horses to Riverside Park in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of
Upper Manhattan. His pallbearers included Union generals Sherman and
Sheridan, Confederate generals Simon Bolivar Buckner and Joseph E. Johnston,
Admiral David Dixon Porter, and Senator John A. Logan, the head of the GAR.
Following the casket in the seven-mile-long procession were President
Cleveland, the two living former presidents Hayes and Arthur, all of the
President's Cabinet, as well as the justices of the Supreme Court. Grant's
body was laid to rest in Riverside Park, first in a temporary tomb, and then
- twelve years later, on April 17, 1897 - in the General Grant National
Memorial, also known as "Grant's Tomb", the largest mausoleum in North
America. Attendance at the New York funeral topped 1.5 million. Ceremonies
were held in other major cities around the country, while Grant was
eulogized in the press and likened to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

Grant has appeared on the
front of the United States fifty-dollar bill since 1913. In 1921, the
Ulysses S. Grant Centenary Association was founded with the goal of
coordinating special observances and erecting monuments in recognition of
Grant's historical role. The venture was financed by the minting of 10,000
gold dollars and 250,000 half dollars. The coins were minted and issued in
1922, commemorating the 100th anniversary of Grant's birth. Grant has also
appeared on several U.S. postage stamps, the first one issued in 1890, five
years after his death.

KM#91 Half Dime (5 cents). Year: 1872S.Weight: 1.23 g [1.24
g].Metal: 0.900 Silver.Diameter:15.50 mm. Edge: Reeded.Alignment:Coin.Mint: San Francisco, USA.Obverse: Sitting Liberty on shield facing left in the center.
Phrygian hat on stick. "UNITED STATES" written at the top left side
clockwise and "OF AMERICA" written at the top right side clockwise. Date written at the
bottom. This type 1872S has mintmark "S" below the
wreath.

Christian Gobrecht (December 23, 1785 – July
23, 1844) was the third Chief Engraver of the United States Mint
from December 21, 1840 until his death in July 23, 1844. He was
responsible for designing the famous "Seated Liberty" designs, which
were in turn the direct inspiration for the design of the Trade
Dollar. He also designed the Gobrecht Dollar, which was struck in
small quantities from 1836 to 1838 and later inspired the Flying
Eagle cent.